Inkmates
by DragonChristian
Summary: Freed from Octavio's control, octolings are free to enter inkling society with a special homestay program. Up and coming musician Ricky takes it upon himself to take care of an octoling, who recently found herself homeless. Ricky continues with his daily life with the octoling in tow, who is trying to get used to her new life. Warning for language and, of course, religious themes.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello readers of Splatoon fanfiction! And to any other readers who know me! If you haven't guess already, I have been playing Splatoon 2, but I have been playing since opening day. Love the game, loved it ever since the original. I've had this idea for a while but it was only recently that I decided to do it. It's a bit more lighthearted in plot than my other stories, because I wanted to practice writing stuff like this.**

 **Anyway, from my mindscape to yours, I present to you "Inkmates." Let's start the story, savvy?**

* * *

A young, blue tentacled inkling nervously grasped his hands as he looked to the other occupant in the room. He watched the elder squid as music played over the speakers inside the studio room. He had a neutral expression as the strumming of guitars and the sound of his singing echoed around them. As the music came to an end, the green tentacled inkling reached over and flipped a switch, turning off the console.

"How… How was it, sir?" He asked, twiddling his thumbs again. The elder squid remained expressionless as he rubbed his chin and stared at the younger adult. He stood up from his seat and looked straight into his brown eyes with his own green.

"…I like it," he finally said. The younger inkling's eyes widened in shock as the information set in. "I'll contact you to settle the terms and the signing of the contract. Keep up the good work, kid."

With the final words of the elder inkling, the younger was left alone to his thoughts. A few minutes of frozen and dead silence after the elder left, the door opened again with two more inklings around the first one's age storming inside.

"Ricky? What happened?" The cyan tentacled Inkling asked.

"Yeah, bro. What'd he say? He didn't hate it, did he?" The orange tentacled Inkling added on questions, getting an elbow in the gut from the other intruder.

"…Naw… He didn't hate it…" Ricky muttered, coming out of his shock. He turned to his two guests in his chair and fixed his studio headphones on his ears. A large grin found its way onto Ricky's face as he jumped up and pumped his fist into the air. "We're in business, boys!"

"Hell yeah! That's awesome, Ricky!" The cyan inkling gave his own cheer and smacked Ricky on the back.

"It sure is, Freddie," Ricky said. He gave a laugh when he saw the orange inkling silently cheering, both hands in the air and his eyes closed.

"And you _know_ we gotta celebrate this!" Freddie continued. "It's not every day that a band gets to produce their own songs and have them professionally recorded!"

"You're right, Freddie," the orange inkling finally spoke up. "But I think Ricky should call home first and let them know the good news. Without them, we wouldn't have gotten this far."

"Oh yeah! But then can we celebrate, Kevin?" Freddie asked the orange inkling. Kevin gave a smirk and nodded his head to Ricky.

"It's all up to our band leader and lead singer," he said.

"I'm all up for a celebration! Is it all right if I invite the teammates?" Freddie and Kevin nodded. They both understood how much money for the band Ricky had poured in from Turf Wars, Ranked Battles, and his bonuses from his job they all worked. Ricky's teammates were an important part in their dream. "Thanks, fellas!"

"No problem," Kevin shrugged and turned to Freddie. "You get the pizza, I get the drinks and we all meet up back at Ricky's for the party?"

"Sounds like a plan," Freddie agreed excitedly, hopping between legs. "Anything special or should I just order the usual?"

"Probably just the usual. Original cheese is the pizza of kings!" Ricky cheered and pumped his fist into the air again.

"Alright, we all meet up back at Ricky's at seven," Kevin said, looking at his phone for the time. "That gives us two hours to get the food and drinks and Ricky to call home and his teammates for the news. Agreed?"

Freddie nodded, but Ricky suddenly shook his head as he remembered something.

"I just realized, I don't think we can have the party at my place. I don't want to get in trouble with the landlord and the neighbors," Ricky explained.

"I understand, Ricky," Kevin answered. "And we can't do it at our places for the same reasons. I'll go find the owner before I leave and see if we can use one of the rooms here tonight. If it's a small party, he may not mind it much as long as we clean up."

All three brought their fists together in a circle and laughed heartily. "Alright, break on three," Ricky ordered.

"One!" Kevin started off. It was finally happening.

"Two!" Freddie continued. They had finally begun.

"Three!" Ricky counted it further. They were becoming a professional band.

"BOYS BACK HOME!"

* * *

After the three had split up at the studio, Ricky started on his way back to his apartment. It was a little ways away from the studio and Inkopolis Square, but the rent was cheap. It was also a cozy little home for the time being. Ricky was lucky to find it.

It's been a couple months since Ricky came to Inkopolis to participate in ink battles. Since coming to Inkopolis, he's been quickly climbing in levels and ranks. Being a rank A battler certainly brought in a lot of cash, but most of his winnings went to his music and necessities. He saved up most of the money earned to help in producing his band's music.

His battles led him to meet the squids who would later become his teammates and close friends. They were now a close standing team that regularly did ranked battles. They couldn't keep up with the competition of S rankers, but they were content with the battles in rank A. They did almost everything together, with one of them even being his next-door neighbor.

And speaking of the squid, Ricky held his squidphone to his ear as he tried to call his neighbor and teammate. A few minutes of the idle tone later and a voice finally came through.

 _"Hello? Ricky, is that you?"_

"Hey, Traysi, it's me," Ricky answered. "I've got great news!"

 _"Wait, hold up."_ A few moments of silence followed. He swore he could have heard Traysi's voice in the background, but also another voice. He was snapped back to reality when he heard Traysi's voice clearly again. _"Ricky, I need your help with something. Can you come over for a little bit and talk with me?"_

"Yeah, sure. I can come over. Just give me a few minutes to get back to the apartments first."

 _"Thank you! Wait… You didn't go out battling today, did you?"_ Okay, this was getting a little weird. What's with all the questions?

"No, I've just been hanging out with Kevin and Freddie. Why?"

 _"No reason. I'll see you soon, okay?"_

"Alright," Ricky agreed. "See ya in a few minutes."

 _"Okay. See you later."_

Hanging up, Ricky stared forward as he continued his trek home. That was a little weird for Traysi. She almost sounded… nervous.

* * *

After finally giving calls and getting two confirms for the party, Ricky arrived at his apartment complex. He and Traysi lived on the second floor. When he reached his door, he was surprised to find a package on his doorstep. It wasn't large, but it was not so small as to fit in his hand.

Picking up the package, it was decently heavy and he understood why it was heavy when he saw the sender. Home. He couldn't wait to tell them the good news, but he had to go over to Traysi's first.

Dropping off the package inside, he made his way to his neighbor's door. One knock and a minute later, a yellow tentacled inkling girl revealed herself.

"Hey, Trays. So what did you want to talk about that was so important?" Without a moment of hesitation, Traysi pulled the startled boy into the room and locked the door behind them.

"God, Traysi, you didn't have to do that!" Ricky shouted.

"I know, Ricky, but this is really important and I didn't know who else to talk to about this," she answered. For a moment, Ricky saw a side to Traysi that she had never showed before. She kept looking back and forth frantically with ink-shot eyes. She was pulling at her long tentacles and looked like she was a nervous wreck.

"…Damn, Traysi… What happened to you?" Ricky breathed out his question, still in shock at seeing his friend in such a state.

"I'll explain it to you, just… come with me. And don't… don't freak out," she hesitantly said. Ricky nodded and she led him to the den. She held a hand up, indicating to him that he could go no further, before she darted to her bedroom.

Ricky sighed. He had never seen Traysi like that. EVER. She was always worry free and always ready for a good time. She never even worried about her clothes or makeup. She was never the type to get heartbroken over a guy and always bounced back before any kind of funk took her over. And she was always the one to cheer up the group whenever they lost or when something personal happened. To see her like _that_ , must have been something dead serious.

"Okay, she's ready," he heard Traysi call out from the bedroom. Ricky raised an eyebrow in confusion. Did Traysi get a new roommate without telling anyone? They never met any of Traysi's friends outside the group and, as far as Ricky knew, she never said she was looking for a roommate.

When Traysi came out of the room, she was facing a mysterious new person coming from the room. And Ricky recognized what the new girl was so quickly that he almost went for his splattershot on instinct, remembering that he left it at home.

Her head was slightly down, face covered in large red tentacles. Her skin was a slight pink. She was wearing a, he hoped it was fake, leather jacket, black gloves, and metallic boots. Traysi must have loaned her some legwear, as he recognized those patterns on the shorts anywhere. He couldn't see her eyes, but there was no mistaking her. An octoling.

Seeing the shocked face on Ricky after she turned around, Traysi waved her hands at him and tried to get him to calm down. The octoling, surprisingly, drew back a little in fear. "Ricky! It's alright! Nala won't hurt us!"

"Traysi, I'm fine! I won't hurt her!" Ricky grabbed her hands to get her to stop. He breathed in deeply and said calmly, "I promise I will listen. Just tell me everything."

* * *

Ricky understood why an octoling would be in Inkopolis. The story was released that octolings made contact with inklings after they were freed from Octavio's control. The inkling leaders agreed to help integrate octolings into their society after hearing about their rough conditions with Octavio. Everyone knew that there was to be a system where an octoling would live in an inkling home before octolings would be able to live on their own. But no one knew when that system would start. He guessed that they would start talking about it on the news in the morning.

Traysi said she never signed up for the program, but she found Nala abandoned. She listened to Nala about how the family that had volunteered as her homestay had members that hated octolings. The members who signed up for the homestay had done so in secret, hoping to break the news gently before it was too late, and she was rejected by the octo haters. Traysi explained that she brought Nala to her apartment and let Nala live with her for the past few days in secret.

"So _that's_ why we never saw you this week!" Ricky threw his head back at the realization. "Damn… But why not tell us? We all would have understood."

"I don't want the word to get out that Nala isn't staying with her chosen homestay family. If she's found out, she'd get sent back to Octo Canyon." Nala nodded shyly, finally showing her beautiful purple eyes.

"Then why not just sign up for the program and register as her homestay?"

"I can't officially afford it. And I've kept it secret from the landlord so he doesn't kick me out for going against the single habitation contract. I've been trying to find her a place to stay while she lives here, but…"

"I'll do it." Both Traysi and Nala froze as they looked at Ricky. There was not a trace of humor in his eyes and his smile was genuine. "I can afford it and I'm sure I can convince the landlord to let me take her. My cohabitation contract should still be in effect. What do you say?"

"Whuh… Ricky! Are you crazy?! What makes you think that you can afford it?!" Traysi shouted as she lunged at Ricky. "You already have to worry about your family, your band, _and_ yourself! Quit trying to be the hero!"

"I already have the Turf Wars and my job. What's wrong with working a little more? And I don't have to worry about my band money as much anymore since we got accepted. Let me help." Traysi froze and stared at him in surprise.

"You got… accepted? What…"

"Yeah, that's what I was going to tell you. Boys Back Home is getting the deal. We're throwing a party to celebrate. I can afford taking Nala in. Trust me." Traysi lost her look of shock and hefted a deep sigh.

"I swear you're being stretched thin… Fine, but it's Nala's choice to stay with you," she conceded. Both inklings looked at the lone octoling on the couch. When she saw that they were staring at her, she flinched and started playing with her tentacle bangs.

"Ummm… uh…" Nala found it to be tough speaking. She had no problem with Traysi, but she didn't know this Ricky. Traysi said that he was someone she could trust, and yet she was terrified that he was offering to be her homestay. Would he do something to her? The mere thought of being messed with caused her to try and hide her face with her tentacles.

"Nala," she heard in front of her. When she looked up, she saw Ricky kneeling in front of her and staring straight into her eyes with his deep blue. He crossed his arm across his chest and held his hand in a fist. "I promise you that I will not harm you. I was raised to be a gentlesquid and I… I swear on my life, to you, that I will protect you."

"Whoa…" Nala whispered. He was serious about this. That kindness was much more intense in Ricky's eyes than she saw in Traysi's. The octoling felt like she would be swept off her feet at any moment. She felt like one of those princesses in the inkling fairytale books that she found in Octo Canyon as a young octopus, and he was her knight in shining blue ink armor. Her childhood fantasies must have spoken for her as she said in a whisper, "Yes."

"Then I can't wait to be roommates," Ricky said, shaking her out of her fantasies. She saw him stand back up and smiling at her. "I'll settle things with the landlord and get registered before the party tonight and we can move you in tomorrow." He looked to both girls in the room in curiosity. "Do you two want to come to the party tonight?"

Traysi shrugged her shoulders and looked to the octoling. "Nala?"

"Eh?!" Nala jumped in her seat with a squeak. "A… a party?" she asked. She looked back at Traysi and then at Ricky, who was just standing at the door, smiling.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to. It's just something we're-"

"No!" she shouted, raising her voice for the first time. She slapped her hands over her mouth and looked at him, afraid that she might scare him away. "I-I mean, I'll go… if you're there."

"Well, if she's going," Traysi started, "then I'm going."

"Great, I'll just be back in my apartment for a little while before I come get you two. Does that sound good?"

Traysi held a thumbs-up while Nala nodded her head wordlessly. Ricky flashed a grin and walked out. When he left the room, he immediately heard squealing from behind the door, jolting him a little. Must have found a mouse or something. He figured that he would take it up with the landlord. But right now, he would have to do what he needed to do if he was to help his new roommate. And there was also that call to home…

* * *

 **So that was the first chapter of "Inkmates." Did you like it? Not like it? I feel like I did a good job with the first chapter. Any of my other readers expecting chapters in my other stories can look forward to new chapters on the way. This story came first to get it started. More chapters for most of my stories are on the way.  
**

 **And good luck to everyone in the upcoming Splatfest! I will be participating in support of Team Werewolf. Awooo!**

 **Follow, favorite, leave a review. See ya next time. Stay fresh!**


	2. Chapter 2: I Know Somebody

**Hello, everyone! Sorry this chapter took so long, but I've been busy with a lot of stuff. However, Octo Expansion has given me motivation to continue writing! It was a great addition to Splatoon 2 and the challenge was needed so much! If you have the game and haven't gotten Octo Expansion, I highly recommend you do so soon, as there will be spoilers for that in later chapters of this story. Sorry if you hate these author notes, so I'll just get right back to the story.**

 **Splatoon 2 belongs to Nintendo. I only own the plot.**

 **Enjoy the story!**

* * *

Brushing the lone tentacle away from his face, Ricky opened the door of his apartment and made the short trek to Traysi's. He knocked on the door and heard a voice say, "Just a minute!" After that was a rustle and silence that left the young squid alone to his thoughts. He tapped his feet on the ground and heard a familiar clicking sound on the concrete.

It was those shoes that he would never take off his feet. A gift from his teammate. One would think that he would be sweating out of those black snowboots, but they never felt any warmer than he liked. The abilities were great for his play style and he never switched them out for any match his team had. Even when he wasn't out splatting, he always wore those snowboots outside his apartment like he didn't own any other pair of shoes.

A click from the door grabbed Ricky's attention. The door in front of him pulled back to reveal Traysi in a different change of clothes than earlier. Seeing Nala, Ricky realized that Traysi was letting her borrow more of her clothes. And Traysi must have styled Nala's tentacles, as they were now pulled back behind her head in a ponytail, revealing her blushing face. She refused to look at him, for some reason he tried to figure out why.

"Well? What do you think?" Traysi's voice snapped him to attention. He saw her grinning widely, waiting for him to say something. A few seconds of silence followed before her grin turned to a cheeky smirk. "Or have Nala and I finally caught the hillbilly speechless?"

The comment made Ricky show a sneer of annoyance and bite back with his response. "You know I ain't a hillbilly. I was just wondering why you took so long to look like that if it's just gonna be us and the guys."

"What? We gotta make sure that Nala and I look good for you guys, since it's a cause for celebration! We want them to have a good first impression of Nala, too! I want my favorite rednecks to like her!" Traysi threw her arms around a flustered Nala and stuck her tongue at Ricky.

"We're the only rednecks you know!" Ricky answered back.

"Oh, right," Traysi said as the grin returned to her face. "But, you're still my favorites."

Ricky sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, thanks. Yer our favorite yuppies, too." He looked up and laughed when he saw Traysi's pout. Meanwhile, Nala had lost her blushing face and donned a look of confusion as she watched the two squids with her. "Oh, get over it. Are you two ready to go?"

Two nods, one overdone and one subtle in shyness, were his answer. "Then let's agitate the gravel."

* * *

Nala looked around in amazement at Inkopolis Square at night. Since coming to Inkopolis, she had never done much sightseeing, instead hiding from the authorities in Traysi's apartment. She had dreamed of the other world while serving in the octarian army, being one of the lucky few octolings, besides a defector named Marina, to see this world as a potential ally instead of an enemy. But now that she didn't have to hide, she could take it all in now, and it took her breath in return.

"Nala," she heard. She gasped and turned towards the two inklings with her and saw that they were in front of a small building. "We're here," Ricky said.

"Oh. Sorry," she answered, clasping her hands together.

"No need to apologize," the male inkling responded. He proceeded to enter the building and let the girls follow him inside. He waved his hand to the two before approaching the front desk. The elder inkling behind the desk looked up at Ricky for a moment before returning his gaze to the magazine in his hands.

"Sorry, we're closing in a few minutes," he said and yawned. "Come back tomorrow."

"Actually, there's an appointment that we have with the owner. Should be under Kevin Ferrus?" The inkling looked back up from the magazine with a furrowed brow at Ricky. A few seconds passed before a look of realization crossed his pink eyes.

"Oh, right. Couple of your friends are already here. Dev already filled me in. Congrats, man," the inkling said. "They're in your usual room."

"Thanks." Ricky looked back at the girls and nodded his head to a long hallway. Before they could get far, the inkling raised his voice again.

"Wait, what are you doing with that octoling?" he asked, a bit of anger now in those eyes. Nala shrunk back toward Traysi in fear. When Ricky saw Nala's reaction, he walked straight up to the desk and the inkling with anger in his eyes and voice.

"She's with me. Ya mess with her, ya got me to answer to. Understand?" The inkling backed up a bit from Ricky. He looked between the blue inkling and the scared octoling for a moment before forming a frightened smile and waving his hands.

"Of course, sir! So sorry, ma'am!" he said. Ricky backed off from the inkling and his anger softened as he walked back to the girls. He completely missed Nala's look of utter confusion and started leading the way again. Nala looked to Traysi for an explanation, but all the poor confused octoling got was a grin and a wink.

When the trio reached the final door in the hall, Ricky stopped as he grabbed the knob. He could hear the faint sound of drums being bashed on the other side. His band mates were probably the ones already here. He looked to the girls and sighed. "Nala, with what just happened, I wanna tell ya right now before we do anything else. If anyone ever does anything or says anything to ya, anything that hurts ya at all, I want ya to come find me and tell me. It don't matter if I'm in the middle of something, tell me. Got it?"

Nala blinked at his request and looked at his sorrowful and serious expression. Genuine concern. Traysi was right again. The octoling nodded.

"Good," he said. "Now I know that none of my band will do anything to ya, but I just wanted ta make sure. Let's have some fun."

The door opened to reveal three inklings in a small conference room. Pizza and drinks were placed on the white table, the boxes and soda containers having yet to be opened. Two of the three inklings looked at Ricky standing at the door and motioned for him to come inside. The third, much older inkling, smiled at Ricky as he and the girls walked into the room.

"Wassup, Ricky? I see you brought some friends with you," the adult squid said.

"Nothin much, Dev. Yeah, this is Traysi," he motioned to the yellow squid and she held up two fingers in a peace sign. "And this is Nala." He motioned to the octoling, who once again flinched when all eyes were on her. "I'm gonna be Nala's homestay family for a while and I thought it would be fine with everyone if she came to celebrate with us."

The adult in the room didn't move a muscle. His green eyes were set on the octoling. The tension kept rising, but eventually disappeared altogether when Dev started chuckling. "It's damn fine with me if she's here. I had the pleasure of working with that Marina girl before she got too big for this dump. Showed me that not all those octo's are piss awful." All the young inhabitants in the room blinked at Dev's words.

"You worked with THE Marina?!" Traysi finally asked. "From OFF THE HOOK?! That Marina!"

"Yeah, toots, and I would take kindly as to not scream in here. Place isn't closed yet so there are people trying to work." Dev rubbed his ears for a minute before grinning again. "But yeah, that Marina. Hell of a good singer, and worked wonders with our turn tables. Not too bad with her morals either, maybe a little naïve."

"Whoa, Dev. How come you never told us this before?" Kevin asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Cuz I didn't want you and everyone who works here to lob a million and one questions at me and drive me crazy. You knuckleheads are finally getting your big break and might never come back here again so's I don't gotta worry about it."

"Might not be too sure about that," Freddie said. "We still gotta work out the contract."

"Eh, fuhgeddaboutit. You kids have fun tonight." Dev said with another chuckle. "When your other friends show up, I'll go ahead and go home. Kev, don't forget that key, got it?"

"I got it, Dev. Yer good to go."

"Alright. I'll go back to my office until closing. No noise until closing time." Dev stood up from his seat and walked to the door. He stopped next to Nala and nodded to her. "If you're half as good as Marina, I hope you choose our studio like she did." With that final sentence, he shut the door behind him.

A few minutes later, Nala looked at Ricky sitting next to her. He and the other inklings in the room were busily munching on the steaming hot pizza taken out of the boxes. Nala had yet to touch hers, so it was simply lain flat on the plate in front of her.

"What's wrong? You not hungry?" she heard Ricky ask her. When she finally noticed, she saw him looking straight at her with a concerned look in his eyes.

"No no! It's just that… well…" Nala looked at Ricky, then at the food in front of her. Ricky tried to piece together what she was trying to say, but with so little knowledge about her he couldn't come up with much. He came up with his best guess based on the meaty pizza topping.

"Are you a vegetarian?"

Nala shook her head and held it down in shame. "No… I've… never had pizza before…"

"Oh! Well, ya don't have to try it if you don't want."

Ricky threw her a smile before going back to his unfinished slice. Nala looked at her own slice and started wondering again. Anything _had_ to be better than those seaweed salads, right? She picked the slice up and hesitantly took a bite and she realized that truly amazing food _did_ exist in the world.

Ricky looked back to Nala again and smirked as she was scarfing down her slice. "I take it you're a fan of pizza now?" Without any embarrassment, she looked to him and rapidly nodded her head before asking for another slice. Before she could take another bite, the door opened again and two more inklings walked in the room. They both looked a bit tired and one of them was carrying a dualies type weapon in hip pouches.

"Yo! Is this where the party's at?! Who's ready to get…" The weapon toting inkling stopped mid-sentence when he caught sight of Nala starting to cower close to Ricky. His hands hovered close to the large blue dualies at his hips, ready to splat the octoling, until Ricky stood in front of her with his arms outstretched.

"Don't even think about it, Jackson," Ricky growled defensively. The inkling, now named Jackson, stared at Ricky's angry brown eyes with his own blue. They darted across to every single pair, all of them showing the same determined stare that Ricky's held only with less intensity. The other male inkling standing next to Jackson only held his blank look and his arms stayed across his chest.

"I'd listen to him if I were you, Jack," he said. "You know how Ricky gets when he's like this." Jackson heeded the unnamed inkling's advice and let his hands fall to his sides, allowing Ricky to sit back down next to Nala, who had calmed down once again.

"Thanks, Frankie," Ricky said to the solemn inkling, who simply nodded in return. "I guess I owe you an explanation, huh?"

* * *

"And so I'm going to be her homestay host now." Jackson and Frankie nodded as they grabbed another pizza slice for their plates. "Sorry for not telling you sooner."

"Don't be," Jackson said with a wave of his hand. "We wouldn't have known anyway. We just got out of a match of turf and we didn't have enough time to check our phones before bolting down here."

"That explains you carrying your glooga's in here." Traysi pointed to the dualies at Jackson's hips, who rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Yeah, sorry about that," he apologized. "My hands were probably thinking on their own."

"They probably do that all the time in our matches, since your head doesn't seem to follow most of our plays." Everybody laughed at Frankie's joke except for Jackson and Nala, though she didn't know much of what they were talking about so she couldn't find any humor in the joke.

"Hey! I still get the job done!" Jackson fired back.

"Only because I can plan around your rogue plays and keep up."

Before the two got into a full blown argument, Ricky smacked his hands together and acquired everyone's attention instantly. "Sorry about that, but since everyone is here, I wanted to remind and thank you all for why we are here."

When everyone remained silent, Ricky continued with his speech. "I want to thank all of you for helping Boys Back Home get to where we are. Without your help, I probably wouldn't be able to stand on my own two feet in Inkopolis. We wouldn't be able to bring music and the joy that comes with it to our folks back home." He paused and lifted his drink into the air. When the others lifted their drinks as well, he continued again. "So please, let's make this party worth remembering for the rest of our lives! Cheers!"

"Cheers!" the others joined in and chugged their drinks. Nala drank her own soda with a smile on her face as she watched the party officially start. When she saw the Ricky didn't sit back down, instead going to the large sound system in the room and pulling out a CD from the cabinet. He popped the disc out of its case and placed it into the slot in the speakers.

"Let's start off the night with some of our own songs, eh?" he pressed a button and the playing of a stringed guitar and rhythmic clapping flowed out of the speakers. A few of the inklings stood up from their seats and started swaying to the music. Ricky went back up to Nala and offered her a hand. She didn't recognize the offer until he asked, "Would you like to dance with me?"

Reluctantly, she nodded and took his hand so that she stood up from her seat as well. They weren't exactly close, but the size of the room didn't allow for much distance between the two. All Nala could do was follow Ricky's movements and sway along to the song.

 _"Girl, I've never seen you in this town. If you need somebody to show you around, well I know somebody…"_

* * *

With two hours gone by, the pizza was devoured, leftovers were cleaned up and everybody had gone home. As Ricky, Traysi and Nala neared their rooms, they parted ways. Ricky said that he would be over again the next day to help move Nala's stuff to his apartment. Both girls gave their thanks and Nala added that she had fun that night.

Ricky knew that though he had a new addition in his life, this addition would only be for the better. If only he knew that Nala thought the same.

* * *

 **I hope you liked the new chapter! There should be more coming soon. If you like Ricky and Nala and want to know about them more and their friends as well, I highly suggest you keep reading.**

 **Also, another disclaimer. The song "I Know Somebody" is owned by LoCash.**

 **Leave a review if you like the story so far!**


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